


Impossible Choices

by AyraBelle



Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-12
Updated: 2018-06-12
Packaged: 2019-05-21 06:11:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,155
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14909838
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AyraBelle/pseuds/AyraBelle
Summary: Taako assumes that his choice not to take the Chalice will be an easy one.We all know what happens when you assume.





	Impossible Choices

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Impossible Encounters](https://archiveofourown.org/works/12775761) by [InterNutter](https://archiveofourown.org/users/InterNutter/pseuds/InterNutter). 



****Taako blinked at the brightness of being back in the white space, surprised to see that Merle and Magnus weren’t there but attention drawn to June (the Chalice?) in front of him. She was scanning through his memories.

“Ok, I’ve got my offer.”

The surroundings solidified to show Sazed in the supply cart – arsenic in hand. Taako scowled – he had been hoping that he would never have to see that fucker again.

“This is my offer to you – you can go back and keep your show, you can–”

Taako didn’t realize that she had stopped speaking because he had stopped paying attention. Who cared about fucking Sazed anymore. Ango had helped him get that whole issue taken care of.

“Ah, well this isn’t the same as your friends but I do believe that I’m going to revise my offer.”

Taako looked around when the scene changed again, showing the inside of Angus’s mansion. The boy himself was there, hugging two people. She might have been frail, but Taako still felt like June had punched him in the sternum. This was when Angus had to say good-bye to his parents. This was the last time he would see them alive.

“This is my offer to you – you can save Angus McDonald’s parents. You can give him his family back.”

Taako could only stare. His beautiful, good boy – he looked so happy. The scene faded, but Taako kept his eyes on Angus’s face until the last.

They were back in the Davy Lamp, and Magnus and Merle looked like they were thinking hard. June placed the cup on the table in front of them, and Taako couldn’t take his eyes off of it.

“Now – if you do take it, then you have to want that alternate timeline. You won’t be able to do the things that you have done in this timeline. And only one of you can take the cup.”

“I – I don’t know about you boys, but my offer was powerful. And tempting.” Magnus looked at Taako, but he was still staring at the cup. “It’s something I’ve wanted for years now, but it’s not what Julia would want. So I’m going to have to pass.”

“I’m not one for regrets,” Merle chimed in. “So that’s a no from me as well.”

“…Taako?”

He couldn’t respond – his mind was churning. He could save Angus’s parents; he could give his boy a normal life.

But he wouldn’t be able to see his Ango again, he wouldn’t be able to care for him. June had said that they wouldn’t be allowed to try and recreate anything from this timeline. His dear Angel was the best thing that had happened to him in his life, and Taako knew his answer. He couldn’t give that up.

“That’s a hard pass from Taako as well.”

June was disappointed, and made one last offer to the three of them. Taako felt his stomach drop even further when he saw Phandalin around them. The Chalice was giving them a chance to save all of these people.

Magnus argued that they had done so much good and Taako tried to play it off like he didn’t care all that much, claiming that it was only one third his fault so he wasn’t worried. He thought that Magnus might be seeing through that, but he couldn’t bring himself to care.

*

Magnus could tell that Taako had been forced to make a terrible choice. He tried to play it off, but Magnus only had to look at his face to see that Taako was haunted by whatever the Chalice had offered. He could not be more proud of his friend.

As they waited for the sphere to arrive, Magnus stepped away from the others for a moment to get Angus on his stone of farspeech.

“Hello, sir! How is the mission going?”

“Not too bad, little man. Listen – we’re heading back now and I want you to head to your rooms. Taako, he… he’s going to need you. He’s fine!” Magnus hastened to assure the boy. “This has just been a pretty rough one.”

“Ok, sir, thank you!”

*

Taako got out of the sphere in a daze, not even noticing if anyone was there to meet them. He was definitely not going to be any help in the debrief.

As he moved, he felt pressure pushing him and looked up to see Magnus lightly pushing him towards his own rooms. “Head on over, we can tell the Director everything.”

A wave of gratitude swept over Taako, but he made sure to not let it show. “Fuck yeah, all that dying took it out of me. Taako is ready for some sleep in his own damn bed.”

Magnus smiled at him comfortingly and Merle just waved so Taako veered off to the privacy and safety of his and Angus’s flat. His boy would be wanting to hear everything in the debrief, so Taako would have some time on his own.

He miscalculated, though, feeling a small weight crash into him as soon as he entered the room. “You’re back! I missed you!”

“I missed you too, pumpkin.” And Taako really thought that he could do this – that he could put on a face for his boy. But he made the mistake of looking down.

Angus was smiling – the same smile that Taako had just seen him give his parents before they were taken away from him forever and Taako couldn’t help it. He broke.

He crumpled to the floor, arms across his knees and head down. “I’m so sorry, Angel.” Taako sobbed into his arms, feeling Angus’s arms wrap around him. “You deserve so much more and I’m just so selfish.”

“What are you talking about?” The boy was confused, and rightly so. He had no idea what they had seen.

Taako explained what the Chalice did, but he couldn’t bring himself to describe the offer it had given him. His sweet boy was too perceptive to let that go, though.

“You all made the right choice in not taking it,” he said. “It’s not safe to use the Grand Relics.”

“But I could have given you your family back,” Taako whispered.

He felt the boy freeze. “What?”

“The cup made offers to all of us. My offer was that I could have stopped your parents from being killed.”

He didn’t dare look at Angus’s face – he didn’t want to see the disappointment there. He was therefore confused when his arms were moved so that he was holding Angus just as much as being held by the boy.

“I miss my parents,” he admitted. “But, Dad, I love you too. I’m happy here, with you. You’re not selfish – or if you are then I am too because I would have given that up to stay with you too.”

Taako pulled Angus close, tears falling again when his boy called him dad. “I love you, my Angel.”

**Author's Note:**

> I adore Impossible Encounters, and my brain said 'but wait - what if the Chalice's offer had to do with Angus?'   
> I hope that I did justice to InterNutter's story - you should all go check it out!
> 
> I has a [tumblr](http://ayrabelle.tumblr.com/).


End file.
